Two telling moments at the opening night of Elmina’s Kitchen:
one onstage, one in the foyer before the show. The line “You been
watching too much Casualty, mate!” gets a big laugh when the actor
it’s directed at is both the play’s author and a star of the series.
Conversely, the snooty remark “At least you know how to dress properly”
to a friend is not just snobbish, but on a night like this it’s downright
racist.

Kwame Kwei-Armah’s play netted him a Most Promising award in the 2003
Oliviers. Now the National Theatre/ Birmingham Rep production has arrived
in the West End, the first play there by a black British writer in an age.
It’s a sharp, intelligent look at a whole load of the pressures facing
folk in contemporary urban black Britain. The addition of Kwei-Armah
himself to the cast only adds to its appeal.

Deli runs the Hackney café which gives the play its title. He
tries to keep his teenage son Ashley from the culture of guns and crime
represented by local kingpin Digger, but he tries in vain. Meanwhile,
Deli’s own estranged father returns unexpectedly, with the swagger and
bravado of a previous generation. As Deli tries to forsake his father’s
ways, so Ashley sees no point in Deli’s dead-end honesty. The end’s inevitable.

It’s easy to mistake this for a lament for the breakdown of the family.
But the looser “babyfather” concept itself is just a by-product of the
pervasive, stupid yet compelling machismo that’s at the heart of the culture
here. Why sell out for just a small place of your own when you can
carry a Tech.9 pistol and lord it over a whole area? This is what
Kwei-Armah is addressing. He has no answers, but questions well.

Angus Jackson’s production boasts a host of excellent performances:
Don Warrington as father Clifton, Michael Obiora as Ashley, Doña
Croll as sassy waitress Anastasia. Live West African music adds to the
atmosphere. In some ways, Kwei-Armah himself as Deli is the weak
link in the acting: he’s a little too stilted on stage. But even
such a downbeat play is still a breath of fresh air for the West End.